#NaDuterteNaTayo

#NaDuterteNaTayo is a hashtag on social media meant to be critical of the more than nine months of President Duterte. The original intention aside, I believe the same hashtag can be used in a positive sense. But the President and his Cabinet members must be more responsive to legitimate observations about how the country is governed.

Perhaps, understandable insecurity caused the initial missteps.  Unfamiliar with the national stage, the provincial mayor wanted familiar faces around him. But he seems to be getting the hang of it now. Hopefully, that means he is ready to work with people outside his comfort zone of people from Davao and San Beda Law School.

 At least the President is not embarrassed to correct himself. He listens to people like Sonny Dominguez and the rest of his economic team. But on the negative side, his reaction to the Sandra Cam drama at NAIA is one of a loyal friend and rather feudal... utang na loob for helping him in the election. 

Then he took too long to see that there are a lot of misfits in the PNP who are using the war on drugs to indulge in kidnapping for ransom and even murder. The President sidelined the PNP only after a Korean businessman was kidnapped and murdered.

On corruption, the President quickly dismissed two fraternity brothers from the San Beda Law School he appointed as deputy immigration commissioners. They were caught by CCTV cameras receiving and carrying bags of money from the owner of an online gambling outfit.

The Cesar Montano case will now be another important test. The movie actor was appointed to head the Tourism Promotions Board. He was obviously not qualified for the position but he had powerful backers. One story has it that it is Secretary Evasco, a fellow Boholano, who is protecting Montano. Another claims, it is presidential confidant, Bong Go.

Whoever is Montano’s backer, President Duterte must look for a more qualified replacement. The employees of the TPB sure hope so.

Employees of the Tourism Promotions Board, according to a story on philstar.com, formalized their concerns and complaints in a letter the Presidential Action Center received March 1. The complaint listed 24 irregularities allegedly committed by Montano.

Employees cited Montano’s incompetence as COO, saying he has difficulty grasping information during meetings.

The employees also complained about Montano’s allegedly questionable entry into multimillion-peso deals, undocumented travel orders and creating job orders for his own staff whose functions are already being done by existing staff.

Montano reportedly did not only hire his stuntman, gardener, personal assistant, family friend, but also his relatives. The employees noted that Civil Service Commission rules have been violated.

In the case of Mighty Corp., President Duterte corrected himself after Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez pointed out the P3 billion compromise the President proposed is much too small compared to the tax liability of the cigarette manufacturer.

Now, philstar.com reports the President has increased his compromise offer to P15 billion. It still looks small and if it becomes the final figure, it would make the alleged tax violations of Mighty worth it for the company.

Indeed, an economist who is also a member of Congress told me his computation of Mighty’s liabilities, just the basic without penalties and interest should be P25.2 billion. If interest of 20 percent and 25 percent are computed and compounded as is normally the case, then the amount is P218 billion.

People will be watching how the Duterte administration handles Mighty. This is specially after philstar.com reported that Duterte said the owner of Mighty “approached him for help in the tax case, but Duterte said he brushed off the businessman… (who) then left a bag before leaving. When Duterte found out that the bag contained money, he said he ordered an aide to return it.”

That’s not surprising. The cigarette company is known to expertly handle politicians. It was extremely persuasive with congressmen so that a proposal Mighty backed calling for a two tier cigarette tax scheme was approved in four days last December.

The bottom line for the President? The President has said time and again that he was ready to go to jail for killings in connection with the war on illegal drugs but not for corruption. And he would not tolerate corruption among his friends: “The first whiff (of corruption), all bets (are off).”

We sure hope so. Tax accountants have told me it is now business as usual at many BIR offices after a few months when corruption took a break.

Frontline services are also starting to become problematic again. The LTO is still unable to provide driver’s licenses and car plates.

A US-based academic friend of mine asked: “Why does a copy of an NSO birth certificate and marriage certificate expire after five years? The process to renew is cumbersome.

“First, we had to go to the Philippine embassy (far from where we are) to discover that we have to send our documents back home for the DFA to authenticate it, and then have it sent back here for the embassy to authenticate it. At the DFA, they told our representative we have to get new copies from the NSO.

 “The NSO thumbed down the application for a new copy because we only sent a letter of authorization and copies of our IDs. There are real costs to all this bureaucratic processes! And huge opportunity costs, especially if you have deadlines to beat! Nasaan ang streamlining?”

Duterte is also reluctant to use his political capital to move his agenda forward. Emergency powers as well as the tax reform proposals are still pending in a Congress where he is supposed to have a supermajority.

If the appointment of Gina Lopez as DENR Secretary is rejected by the Commission on Appointments, that will be a slap on Duterte’s political face. The President has come out strongly in support of Gina the past few days, the latest in the presence of Speaker Alvarez and Senate President Pimentel.

He even threatened to impose a total mining ban if miners cannot explain the visible damage to the environment he showed in photographs. He definitely has his heart in the right place.

#NaDuterteNaTayo? The expectations are high. I still believe that provided the President constantly reminds his people they are there to serve, #NaDuterteNaTayo could be the best thing that ever happened to us all. As of now, we are still hoping.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.